


lonely hearts

by Ffwydriad



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Character Study, Coda to c2e91, Developing Friendships, Drabble, Gen, actually he probably doesn't need a hug b/c i'm pretty sure essek might have a thing about touch?, but the emotion stands ok, look essek is lonely and he needs a hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:00:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22289029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ffwydriad/pseuds/Ffwydriad
Summary: Against what is probably his better judgement, Essek makes the decision to join the Mighty Nein for dinner.
Relationships: The Mighty Nein & Essek Thelyss
Comments: 4
Kudos: 83





	lonely hearts

He gets the message while he’s back at the house. It’s like every message that Jester sends to him, rambling and inane and far too personal. It’s weirdly charming, in ways it really shouldn’t be. 

They invited him over for dinner. He can’t remember the last time he was ever invited to dinner. 

That’s a thought worth tracking down. There had been a shock, when they hadn’t asked him for a teleport. He had thought they would - it had been a familiar pattern, to their interactions, amusing and mildly adorable for all that it was in turn inconvenient. And as they had turned his offer down, there had been a reaction. Disappointment, perhaps? The news they were alive, from the Tal’Dorei archmage, the message that had been sent, mere hours before, after over a month of nothing, it was - there was a feeling there, too. 

Loneliness?

It seemed ridiculous. He’d never favored social interaction, but then, they weren’t at all like anyone in the Dynasty, anyone who he’d interacted with, at least. 

It was silly, childish even. They weren’t people he could trust, they were kind because they wanted things from him. And he wanted things from them as well. Favors owed, to further his own research. 

He had barely noticed that he was standing by the door - barely noticed, for how long he had been standing by it. It wouldn’t hurt, to further the relationship with a group that was so useful. It wouldn’t hurt to take them up on that invitation, learn more about their goals.

It would hurt to have friends, he thought, but that wasn’t what he was doing here, of course it wasn’t. 

The air was tense, foreboding, as if warning him that he was making a bad choice. The night was ominous. Except it wasn’t an air, it was a sound. A sound that grew louder, the closer he came. It sounded like screaming, but not like any creature would make. And then, as he grew closer still, it solidified into what might, perhaps, be considered music, if one were to be quite generous. 

Unbidden, a smile formed at his lips. Of course that is what they would be up to, the night after such tense negotiations to end a war. They’d be making a disastrous attempt at music. If he was being generous, he’d call it an attempt to ward off prying ears, but he knew better. It was just them. 

His friends. Friends? The thought of that was strange, but he wasn’t unopposed to the idea. It seemed - it seemed nice. He’d never really had friends, before. 

He knocked.

**Author's Note:**

> essek: why am i friends with these disasters omfg  
> essek: wait?? friends?? i'm friends?? don't know how to deal plz help
> 
> i'm @malaismere on tumblr and god this episode was so fucking good


End file.
